For all hype and punditry, the early proof of the Premier League 2008/9 is that money does not buy success. It can. But it doesn’t look like it for the clubs that spend big. Or for clubs that want or need instant success, one player or more is not necessarily the panacea.  Spurs and Nerwcastle fans must be wondering where it all went so badly wrong.

Tottenham are 749/1 to win the title which is rather more than a long shot and Juande Ramos has dismantled Martin Jol’s side and fielding a bunch of strangers. To add insult Jol has taken Hamburg to the top of the Bundesliga in less time than Ramos has taken to undo his good work. Rumours now link ex Chelsea boss Avram Grant to White Hart Lane? The board’s endorsement of the manager has been made public. 

Mike Ashley has money but seemingly refused  Kevin Keegan’s demands to spend big. In fact he has not  spent very much at all and that could be even worse. A new owner, bringing Keegan back even with money for a relegation dog fight looks less likely at present than a steep fast descent through the Championship to League One, a la Leeds.  In that light Roy Kinnear may not be such a bad choice for the months ahead…

Robinho could not make the difference yet for Manchester City against Liverpool on Sunday, and it is pretty unclear if Rafa Benitez’s summer spending will take Liverpool above Chelsea or Manchester United. Even at Stamford Bridge on Sunday it was interesting how far the pundits got it wrong…Villa to win 2-0 was a 40/1 shot and much touted about on radio and TV, Chelsea were a predictable boring 5/1 for the same score. But  Villa in fact have spent heavily this summer and transparently it has not made enough of a difference. Chelsea on the other hand even with more than half a team out with injury, fielded what many pre-the game had down as a second string side but preceeded to produce another masterclass in modern football. The lesson there is to start with a good manager, or preferably a great one. Or even better with four in succession- Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, maybe Avram Grant if only because the obituary on his legacy was that he didn’t mess things up, and Felipe Scolari.

Sir Alex Ferguson has also demonstrated over the years the art of buying important players and taking time to integrate them. It might have been overlooked that he has in fact spent £60million on Dimitiar Berbatov and confirming the Carlos Tevez deal this summer. Cristiano Ronaldo was a steal at £13m. Wayne Rooney was £28million. No wonder the forwards looked in good form against Blackburn. His purchases though are additions to the squad to embellish the overall play. They are not wholesale overhauls. That United forward line has been groomed through since the decision to sell Ruud Van Nistelroy in 2006.

Great teams are built on time and foresight. Arsenal are still in contention through  an investment in youth; exravagent sums spent on teenagers whom they can develop and sell on. Arsene Wenger seems to believe the brio of youth is a necessary part of successful chemistry. The great Ajax side of 1994-96 was built on that premise too.

Newcastle are 18/1 to be relegated this morning after Kevin Keegan is or is it not sacked as the first repercussion perhaps of the Abu Dhabi interest in Premier League football. Along with Manchester City, Arsenal and Newcastle were the two other teams on the Arabs short list and possibly behind the scenes this was a lure for Keegan even if it turned into a mirage.

But what is not clear now is the first team squad is too small to compete. The manager’s job looks like a poisoned chalice. Smart money says Dennis Wise will agitate to bring Gus Poyet back up north to reform the successful partnership they had at Leeds. Poyet’s influence at Tottenham has also impressed and he may be itching to be more than Juande Ramos’s interpreter. But it will need some quick thinking or the Magpies risk falling out of the Premier League nest. Next up on Saturday 13th is Hull, mercifully at least it is at home. But Hull are 11/2 which is not bad odds.

Bet on Premier League here

There will be no love lost when Spurs face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea had the hoodoo on Spures for many seasons until the spell was broken at Wembley in the Carling Cup Final and the arrival of Juande Ramos and the svengali and ex Chelsea maestro Gus Poyet. The league game at Spurs last March ended 4-4 and paid out a beautiful 125/1. A repeat perfromance is currently 149/1. Spurs have no points and look blunt in attack. Chelsea under Big Luiz Felipe Scolari look fluent and sharp. But three games and zero points is not quite what Ramos or Spurs were expecting to start the season and there will grit to stop it happening. Ramos may park el autobus across the park and trust to a David Bentley flyer.

Sunderland should capitalise on their good start with a visit from Manchestery City who looked bad in the midweek but may have Brazilian striker Jo in action.

Aston Villa host Liverpool in the late kick-off and judging from what has been seen so far this season Liverpool may be lucky to get anything at all.

£10 pays £98 on three home wins. Bet here

Bet Manchester United

Ole Gunner Solskar holds the another European Cup before his testimonial

There will be fond memories of Ole Gunner Solskar around the Premier League grounds but his type of player is increasingly out of fashion. The title race for 2008/9 will be decided in midfield. As ever Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson was ahead of the game when he signed first Michael Carrick from Spurs and then Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich to bring steel and guile into his midfield. It was a move that others have followed. Felipe Scolari brought in Deco to bring some zip and flair to Chelsea and has refused to let Frank Lampard go. Arsene Wenger’s only major purchase so far was to bring in Sami Nasri to compliment Cesc Fabregas in midfield. It seems after a summer of yes and no, that Rafa Benitez will get Gareth Barry to bring muscle to the Anfield army. Juande Ramos has offloaded centreforwards in favour of a dynamic midfield of Luka Modric and David Bentley. In fact all the big money has been on midfielders which means it is going to be tight in the centre circle in upcoming matches…or perhaps it is a defensive mindset that says that only teams with quality in midfield will have the vision to outwit strong defences, so it is safer to buy proven middle men than to play against them?

Bet on Spurs

Darren Bent celebrates his hatrick against Norwich, and for good measure then banged in another from 10 yards

Has Juande Ramos discovered a new striking sensation or at least revived the potential of an old one. The £16.5 million Spurs shelled out on Darren Bent looked a tad overpriced but last night he banged in four goals in a 5-1 thumping of Norwich at Carrow Road. Roy Keane was apparently ready to take Bent to Sunderland along with four or five others which is ther sort of deal that could almost see the Stadium of Light becoming a feeder club for the north Londoners. But if Ramos does sell Dimitir Berbatof- who stayed on the bench last night - to Manchester United then he has been playing a long game with his strike force, which would see three front line strikers offloaded for the best part of £60 million. Perhaps as a Spaniard he fancies the strength of Bent up front to just tap in as he did last night for the fifth goal after an end to end passing move. Maybe he thinks centre forwards are overrated? His other purchases have seemed so canny in midfield and defence, that it would be disrepectful to presume that he has not got a master plan unfolding.

Bet on Spurs to win the Premier League. Great odds at 64/1.

Bet on Spurs to win at Middlesbrough on first day of season

Spurs under Juande Ramos now there is an interesting proposition. At the end of last season with the League Cup safely tucked up after out foxing Avram Grant, Ramos did not seem to care too much about anything else that was happening, except perhaps his goalkeeping situation where his unforgiving nature as regards Paul Robinson was in some contrast to the lenient view of the keeper’s gaffes taken by former England coach Steve Maclaren. While everyone else was wondering what was going to happen at Euro 2008, Ramos bagged Croatia’s Luka Mondric who at £16 million looks a snip. Suddenly the rumour static has also dried up surrounding Dimitar Berbatov although that may be temporary or possibly Lucas Podolski is being lined up as a replacement, the axe instead of the rapier. He has a lot of English talent at his disposal - in fact he has a big squad all round - especially in Jermain Jennas, Tom Huddlestone and Aaron Lennon all of whom would hope to be part of Fabio Capello’s thinking. So too Jonathan Woodgate if he can stay free of injury. And his strike force is reliable in terms of Robbie Keane and Ramos obviously felt secure enough in his planning to let Jermaine Defoe walk to Portsmouth not withstanding the mystery of that other £16 million man Darren Bent who is currently pretty much untransferable for anything like that money.

Bet Tottenham: Spurs are 65/1 to win the title, and are anticpated to come in fifth, but fourth or higher is what is expected. A cup is not beyond them though, or Ramos.

They start with the kind of game that neither Spanish managers nor Tottenham have historically liked very much - away to Middlesbrough on August 16.

Have £10 bet on Spurs for free at Betclick. Just open an account and your first bet up to £10 is free. If you win you keep the money. If you lose, it has cost you nothing and you now have membership of the best betting site in Europe!

Each time that Rafa Benitez gets his ducks nicely in a row then that Scotsman, that Portugese, that Frenchman comes along and spoils it. And this year there is another Spaniard in town with Juande Ramos at Spurs. Each time Benetiz says he needs more money but the squabbling Americans umm and err over the cash. His great success was Fernando Torres, but he probably needs more class and the cash for David Villa would be a tantalising proposition. The trouble is the money men seem more interested in building the new Stanley Park stadium about which they now talk as if it is a leading edge football team. It could well be the world’s first 4-3-3 architectural build.

But Benitez has often bought strangely and there are conundrums to his management style. Peter Crouch is surely the foremost shock tactic attacker in the league and should be brought on with a winger to feed him on 75 minutes in every game and yet the rumours say he will be sold which could make Portsmouth with Jermain Defoe a force to be reckoned with. And then there is Steven Gerrard, to some England and Liverpool’s footballer of a generation, albeit his trophy cabinet is more naked than www.sapphicerotica.com. Is he the disrupting force that stops the others from playing? The solution of playing him up front as Torres strike partner also changes the complexion of the team.

Dirk Kuyt played tirelessly for Holland at Euro 2008 on the right and obviously would rise to the kind of fast end to end movement that Van Basten believed in rather than the slow slow Spanish style push and shove. And where in this mix does the luring of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa quite fit, unless it be to free Gerrard even more?

The Anfield faithful believes it is entitled to the Premiership title again. They are 7/1 The Anfield faithful believes that they can be champions of Euope again. The odds are 14/1. On Saturday August 16 they open the campaign at Sunderland, for once perhaps they can get off to the kind of start they need and not be looking up the table from mid September onwards. Roy Keane may have other ideas.

Bet Liverpool to win the Premiership

Bet Liverpool to win Champions League

£10 free bet for new members at BetClick.com - open an account and the first bet up to £10 is free. Yoiu win you keep the winnings. You cannot lose!!!